Dapts: Give Yourself a Pat on the Back

Jun 14, 2010 by     51 Comments    Posted under: Social Media

It seems that today’s society is all about sharing. Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare and GoWalla are social media platforms where we share bits and pieces of who we are or what we are doing at a location, or a link that we find interesting, or our state of mind.

Even with all the privacy concerns raised by some of these applications the majority of users don’t seem to care how much they share, where they share it, and with whom they share it. Sharing has become hip and, to some, a natural extension of their life such as FourSquare and GoWalla, social games that are creating a new paradigm of how brands interact with their customers by connecting what happens in the “game” with what happens in real life (discounts for 4Sq Mayors is one example).

Introducing Dapts

Dapts, Daily Achievement Points, is a very promising and entertaining idea by Matt Pacyga and Andy Kvamme. Dapts gives you something new: Choice. Using the hashtag #dapts on Twitter you can give or remove points for yourself or others—a virtual pat-on-the-back or slap on the wrist.

The code, which has been in development for some months now, monitors Twitter for the #dapts hashtag and neatly gathers all the points that are given on a score board at the Dapts website.

Had a hard day at the office and made it through without swearing? Give yourself #dapts +100 if you usually don’t curse or give yourself #dapts +500 if you usually do. Missed an important meeting because you totally forgot about it? Give yourself #dapts -200 that will add to the #dapts -800 that the people that were waiting for you will give you.

1. There is no wrong or right way to play #dapts and the system is self-regulatory. If a user gives too many dapts for a simple task anyone can subtract those points.

2. There is no need to register to use #dapts.

3. #dapts can be integrated anywhere within a tweet.

Why Dapts is Exciting

I spoke with Matt and Andy, the developers of Dapts, via Skype and learned that the current version of Dapts is just the beginning of what could be something MUCH more in the future. They are planning to develop and implement several great features and functionalities over time.

Dapts will soon have:

· Badges

· Facebook “Like” button on badges

· Badge points (these cannot be taken away by other users like regular Dapts points)

· Custom badges created by users

· Badges for badges – if user completes a badge “set” they get a special badge

· Coupons, incentives and rewards

· Geo-location

· Games

Both Matt and Andy are socially conscious and take privacy very seriously. Their passion for open standards and their genuine humbleness, which is a true particularity of those who have great potential, have me believing that Dapts is just beginning.

Below you can the two videos that the Dapts team has come up with to promote the Daily Achievements website and even if they don’t explain much about how Dapts works they are really fun to watch.

I promise to keep you all updated on this project. In the meanwhile go and give me some #dapts for introducing you to Dapts, will you? Thanks.

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